Desolation
by DeExil
Summary: Even when the world is at the brink of death mankind finds a way to wage wars against each other. Nine had been destined for greatness, but will that greatness drive Death's sword deeper into mankind?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Notes at the bottom.

**Summary: **Even when the world is at the brink of death mankind finds a way to wage wars against each other. Nine had been destined for greatness, but will that greatness drive Death's sword deeper into mankind?

**Pairing: **Unknown / Undecided

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and/or Highschool of the Dead**

**Desolation – Chapter 1**

Orders flew from one end to the other as people ran around the police station, the majority geared with guns of all kinds. Shots could be heard from time to time followed by the screams of death. Anarchy ruled in the police station, the desperate calls for help were subdued by the howling alarms.

A trooper ran down the hallway trying his best not to bump into the running officers or workers; some had a look of panic in their eyes, others had a look of determination as they were ready to give their life to protect others. The trooper ran up the stairs towards the offices, he tripped on one of them and scrambled back on his feet as fast as he could. He secured his rifle on his shoulder and continued running up the stairs.

As the reached the offices he immediately turned towards the hallway, he ran from one end of the hallway to the other. Upon reaching his destination he busted in the office breaking the lock in the process.

"Takashi? Is that you? Is Rei alright?" he heard the man in the room shout frantically in the phone, he was trying to relay information to someone but before he could the line was cut off. The man sighed heavily as he let the phone drop on the desk, he looked at it with hollow eyes.

"Sir." The trooper called out drawing his attention "We need to leave. Now!" he exclaimed as a scream reached their ears. The man shook his head as he took a seat down at the desk.

The trooper growled as he stormed inside, he moved towards the man and grabbed him by the arm. "Now!" he ordered, the man however looked at him and freed his hand before turning towards a picture frame in front of him. He took the picture out of the frame and handed it to the trooper.

"You have a job to do I believe, but…if you come across her, please take care of her." He begged the trooper. Said person took the picture and looked at it; in it he could see the man before him and a young lady around seven years younger than him. He looked up at the detective and then back at the picture. "Go, I'll leave for one of the sites." He said as the trooper nodded and turned around leaving the office.

Once more he ran towards the stairs and climbed them to the roof, he paused for a second as he saw the creatures they were facing starting to walk up the stairs and debated if he should ignore orders or not. Shaking his head the trooper continued running until he reached the rooftop, gunshots echoed around him as he opened the door, he saw his fellow squad members shooting down two officers and one of their own.

He didn't do anything, he ran forwarding shouting that he wasn't one of them and boarded the helicopter just as it took off. The trooper looked down in the street as the helicopter took height, the streets were filled with blood and dead, fires raged all around the police station as numerous cars had crashed into one another or into buildings.

"Fuck man, what took you so long?" one of the occupants shouted, a man dressed in SAT gear, his submachine gun resting in his hands.

"Everything is going to shit in the station." He replied shaking his head as he took his rifle in his hands, he brought it up to his face and looked down through the scope, testing it.

"And here I thought that today would be the day I could finally get some peace and quiet." Another one groaned as a cough was heard; the trooper looked towards the pilots and saw the copilot coughing.

"Is he alright?" he asked moving forward a little to get a better look at the man, the pilot looked towards his copilot and then back in front, he heard the man cough once more and turned his attention towards him once more.

"Hey man…" he shouted as he placed his hand on the copilots shoulder. "…you alright?" he asked as the copilot suddenly went limp. Seconds later he looked up towards the pilot who didn't have time to scream before the copilot lunged at him.

"Shit! Shoot it, shoot it!" the trooper ordered as the pilot yelled in pain and fright, the helicopter started losing its balance and rotating in all directions. "The cyclic, grab the cyclic!" he shouted, but it was too late. The helicopter lost balance and turned to the side, three troopers fell out of it, pummeling to the ground, the rest grabbed whatever they could to keep themselves from falling, their guns long forgotten as they all crashed towards the ground.

He yelled in fright as he fell from inside the helicopter, he grabbed the landing skid before he could pummel towards the ground like the other three. "Help me!" he shouted in fright, yet the others could do nothing but scream in fright as well as the helicopter suddenly rotated upside down and started crashing towards the ground.

**xXx**

"_We've run several tests on him today…" a man said as he looked through the window into a room, inside the room stood a small child. Even though the window did not allow the child to see who was on the other side he kept staring towards the men like he could see them. "…the results were more than what we had expected." _

_The man besides him said nothing as he kept on looking towards the child. They had spent millions on the project and even more to get hold of those they needed for said project. He studied the child with great interest, he had been right to select him for the tests, the child was special. _

"_I want you to set him up for the next phase of tests." He said after a long silence. Several gasps followed by murmurs echoed around him, they were not expecting such an order. A few of them looked towards the child with remorse though they strengthened their resolve that this was the best thing to do, that this was the future they needed to attain. _

"_Understood, but what about the others?" the man questioned, his superior hummed a small tune as he began to think. _

"_Run them through the drill as well, those that survive will be the ones we need, the rest are expendable." He declared as everyone stood frozen in place, to talk so casually about human beings was something they could never comprehend. Their superior however had power, connections, they couldn't do anything against his decisions, they had to obey. _

_In minutes everyone scattered, leaving the superior alone to stare at the boy who averted his eyes. It was as if he knew they were alone now, this always intrigued the man. It brought a sinister smile on his face as he stared towards the boy who moved around the room, trying to find a place to hide from his gaze. _

_In the end, the boy opted to hide under the bed sheets, even though he knew that it wouldn't do much. _

_He didn't remember how he got here; he barely remembered when he was taken away from his parents, it happened so fast that he didn't realize it until he was already inside that car. _

_For the first few months he had cried for his parents, but slowly, it began to stop. He had learned that the more he cried the harsher the treatments were, he began to learn that if he did what they wanted he would get fed more often, he would get more freedom and he would be allowed to interact with the other children. _

_He didn't know for how long he had been confined to this place, for how long he had been separated from his family. It seemed like an eternity, for a six year old it was only obvious that it would seem like an eternity; he had no concrete notion of time. _

_The people here, they all looked at him like he was just an animal. They didn't talk to him, they didn't teach him anything nor allow him to learn anything beyond what they wanted him to learn. The only emotions they showed was either anger or no emotion at all. If it was anger that they showed then he would either not eat that day or get locked up in the dark room. If they showed no emotion life would just carry on like nothing, he would be given food, he would be allowed to go back to his room, to interact with the children…but nothing more than that. _

_He couldn't really say that he had made friends, they didn't allow them to communicate that much. If they noticed two children get too attached the next day they would drill them into thinking the other was their mortal enemy. He had seen this happen before, countless times. They would jump at each others throats trying to kill each other, because of that he opted to never make friends in this place, he didn't want to fight someone to the death like that._

_But, when the time to escape had come he needed to make friends, he had to try. _

**xXx**

The darkness had long since taken hold of the city. By nightfall the screams had died down, one by one, the alarms had been shut and the streets had been cleaned of the living. No one would dare to walk these streets, be it day time or night time, it was no longer safe, nowhere was safe anymore.

The quiet night was pierced only in several locations, in places where people had gathered or were gathering to escape the madness and in several places around the city where those left behind tried their best to escape. However, in his case it was different. The sound of crackling fire and the helicopters main rotor slowly moving in circles gave away its location in the area, in a small radius at least.

But even so, it was enough to attract unwanted attention. In this case however, luck had been on his side.

The trooper groaned as he opened his eyes, the memories playing in his mind as he tried to get a hold of reality. He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. Behind him stood the helicopter, or at least what was left of it. Parts from it were scattered all around the field along with body parts of those unfortunate enough to be cut by the main rotor or crushed under the weight of the now metal junk.

He grit his teeth as his brain registered the pain coming from his leg, he looked down and cursed as he saw a part of the main rotor had struck through his leg and the ground underneath it. Luck had been on his side for only a few moments, he was allowed to survive the crash but that didn't mean that he would survive unharmed.

Luckily the piece wasn't long or very thick so there wouldn't be any significant damage to his leg, at least nothing that wouldn't be impossible to heal within a few days if he didn't put too much strain on it. Taking a deep breath he grabbed the object and pulled it out with a grunt of pain, throwing it to the side and crashing on the ground as he started panting.

There had been many things he prepared for, but to do something like this, to pull such a stunt and survive was not one of them.

He stood there looking at the sky for minutes, listening to the screeching movements of the rotor and the fire. As time passed he began to feel his leg healing, he could hear the unmistakable sound of his healing kicking in, but, it was a slow process.

With a sigh he rolled to the side and slowly stood up, looking around and trying to figure out where he was and where he should go. Staying in this place for too long would not be a good idea, it was fortunate that the dead hadn't appeared here yet, he had been laying in the grass for an hour or so. As he surveyed the area he noticed the guns, or what was left of them. The majority seemed to have been crushed under the remains of the downed helicopter. Even so, he inspected all of them; a few of them still had their magazines intact, he removed them and placed them in his backpack, he had found a HK UMP-45 with three spare magazines, his FNP 45 was still attached to his waist along with five spare magazines, the rest of the guns were in no condition to be used.

A total of ten pistol magazines had been salvaged, seven submachine gun magazines – though he could only use two of those as the remaining five were for MP5's – and a total of three assault rifle magazines used by HK G36's. Though the only rifle he found had been severely damaged, the operative that carried it had a total of five magazines in his backpack, three of which either had their bullets scattered all over in the wreckage or were unreachable.

He had to do with what he had; his first objective would be to find out where he was, get a hold of a map and plan a route towards his designated destination. With small steps he walked out in the street, limping heavily and using the walls of the nearby building for support.

As he looked around he noticed that even though the streets were devoid of life it looked like no one had been here when the outbreak started, the streets were clean, there were no traces of blood or any kind of corpses littered on the road. A few cars had been abandoned in the street; one of them had crashed in an electric pole while two of them had crashed into each other.

Walking forward he inspected his surroundings, always keeping his eyes peeled and his hand on the submachine gun's trigger. With one hand he leaned on the walls, using them for support and with the other he carried the gun, ready to raise it and defend himself with it if needed.

It seemed like an eternity, walking in the night, under the dim lights of the street illumination. It was quiet, too quiet in his opinion. It was like the monsters had all left and moved on towards other places, to areas populated by the living. If that was the case then he was in luck, he didn't have to fight, he wasn't in any shape to fight those creatures.

He needed to find a place where he could sleep, where he could patch himself up.

For a moment he stopped and looked up as he heard footsteps. He waited, waited for whatever was around the corner to show itself. When it did show itself he had to restrain himself from firing his gun, in front of him appeared one of them, a walking dead. It dragged its feel on the ground walking passed the blond, it hadn't noticed him. Another one had appeared, not far from the first one, going in the same direction as the first.

This intrigued the trooper; he tried to follow their path with his eyes and noticed a large amount of the dead moving towards a nearby gas station. From where he was he could see people there, he couldn't make out however if they were doing something, they just seemed to be standing there.

With a huff, he pushed himself away and started limping towards the gas station, holding his gun with both hands and constantly keeping an eye open for the dead. He was curious as to why they didn't notice him, it was like they couldn't see him or hear him. His movement was silent however, years of training had made him able to walk in the darkness and even during day time in complete silence.

A cry of fear had alerted him towards the station once more, he was close enough now and could see what was happening. His eyes narrowed behind his helmet as he realized that in front of him was something akin to a hostage situation. A rather large man was holding a teenage girl captive, with some sort of a sharp object at her throat; he couldn't be sure about it since they were with their backs at him. The only one he could clearly see was the teenage boy in front of them, looking like he was ready to murder the guy in front of him.

Quickly analyzing the situation he realized that even if the boy managed to free his companion – or at least he had assumed that the female was the boy's companion – they would still be swarmed by the dead and would make their escape next to impossible. He had noticed the bike, yet if they were in the gas station maybe the bike was out of fuel or low on it.

With a sigh he looked around, there weren't many walking dead close enough to finish him off if he gave away his position. He turned his attention back towards the gas station and raised his gun, he was around two hundred meters away, even with the red-dot sight it would still be hard to know if he does collateral damage.

Gritting his teeth he pressed forward, limping hard, his movement had been caught by the undead around him. The trooper counted the distance, he looked around and noticed some of the undead moving towards him. He stopped next to a car, one hundred and fifty meters away from his target and took aim. A resonating bang was heard as all movement from the undead stopped, their gazes turning towards the origin of the sound.

The man's grip on his hostage fell as he crashed to the ground, a bullet hole in his head. The girl yelled in fright as she ran towards her companion and embraced him. He however looked around, trying to figure out where the shot came from, he saw the undead were no longer moving towards them but towards a car in the middle of the street, whoever was there was surrounded.

"Rei" he said as the girl looked up at him. He pointed towards the car and as she looked at it she realized that whoever had saved her was there, getting swarmed by the undead.

"What do we do?" she asked, the bike could only hold two people, she couldn't see any other bike in the vicinity and at the same time they couldn't leave the person behind.

"Do we save him?" he questioned seriously, making her look at him with wide eyes. She then realized why he had asked that; on the way here they had been fired upon by the living, here she had been taken a hostage and then she had been saved by a strange person who they couldn't see or know what his intentions were.

"Yes…" she replied with a small voice, they couldn't brand everyone as evil or mad, some people might still be. The boy looked around and noticed a ladder that would allow them to climb on top of the gas station. He looked back down at the girl and explained to her the plan. A small grin appeared on her face as she nodded vigorously.

A sigh escaped the trooper's mouth as he looked around, he couldn't run, his leg was busted. Crawling under the car would be a dead end and going in the car would also be a dead end for him. He raised his gun and aimed, gun shots resonated in the night as each bullet leaving the chamber found its way in one of the undead's skulls. They went down one by one; with each shot he fired he counted how many he had left.

"_If you are outnumbered, you will fight to the death, there is no retreat, there is no surrender, there is only the warm embrace of death!" the appointed general shouted towards the small children, some trembled in fear, others looked in curiosity and finally, some looked with interest. _

The gunshots stopped as the trooper took out the empty mag and replaced it with another one in just a second. He raised his gun again and was about to open fire when he felt a presence above him. His eyes narrowed as he threw himself on the ground and turned to face the sky, he fired upon the undead that had been leaning on the car, killing it with a shot in the head. He had been right that going underneath the car was a dead end, as he lay on the ground he could see them crawling towards him, he fired on the first three he saw blocking the remaining ones from moving with such ease.

Once more he looked up and using his left leg he pushed himself away as one of them tried to bite him. It wasn't an easy task, but he had managed to get back on his feet, he held his position firmly as he unleashed hell on the assailants, there were too many to take aimed shots, they seemed to be moving too fast.

A click was heard and once more he let the empty mag fall from the gun as he placed the next one in. As he was about to open fire a bike's engine alert him of another oncoming threat, he turned around just as a bike crashed into an undead behind him, stopping next to him. The boy looked towards him, his eyes widening briefly before extending his hand.

"Get on!" he cried, the trooper didn't need to be told that, the second he had seen the extended hand he grabbed it and jumped on the bike. He held on to his rescuer as they moved away from the horde and towards the gas station. The boy stopped at one of the pumps, they both got off. "Follow me." Was what he said, running towards the side of the gas station.

The trooper did his best to follow, limping towards him. Luckily the teenager looked back to check on him and noticed how he was running, he ran back and grabbed hold of the adult, making sure that the man leaned on him for support as they moved as fast as they could towards the ladder.

Takashi allowed the trooper to climb first, he was amazed that the man was using only his undamaged leg to climb, jumping from one step to the other and using the strength from his arms to pull himself up. He too followed the man up towards the rooftop as soon as the he was out of sight.

A gasp caught his attention as he reached the rooftop, the trooper turned towards the source of the sound and noticed the girl that had been held hostage a few moments ago. She looked at him with wide eyes, interest and hope danced in those eyes. A small smile appeared on her face as she looked towards the ladder, the teenager had reached the top as well, he sighed in relief as he crashed down.

"A stunt like that…" he gasped out "…I'm never going to pull one like that again." He laughed as the girl giggled. He however stood quiet, looking at them, analyzing them. It intrigued him how casually they could act considering what was happening around them and what they went through just a few moments ago.

He didn't bother to ask them why they acted like this, maybe it was for the best, giving into despair was not a solution. "Hey…" he looked up towards the girl, he thought he recognized her the first time he saw her, but now, that she was this close to him, he knew who she was. The detective's words echoed in his mind as he stared at the girl, a small smile appearing on his lips, behind the mask.

"Can I help you?" he asked tiredly, she smiled at him, not bothered by his tone. She had seen how he limped, the damage on his leg, it was no wonder that he was tired.

"I was wondering, you're a cop right?" she questioned as the man nodded and pulled out his ID from one of the jacket's pockets.

The girl took the ID and looked at it with interest. _Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, SAT, Lieutenant, age 24._ She didn't bother reading the encrypted number, it was used to gain access to sealed areas in police stations and you would need the ID for the machine to check.

But the fact that she had been saved by a SAT operative, it made her look at him with wide eyes. She showed the ID to her partner and at that moment they both knew they hadn't made a mistake in saving him, the man was someone with experience, someone that could help them out. A thought then passed by Rei.

"Erm…can I ask from what station you come from?" she questioned the operative.

With a nod he replied to her question. "Number twenty-three, downtown." Her eyes widened as she moved closer to him.

"Do you know my father then? Detective…"

"Yes Miyamoto-san." He replied cutting her off and making the girl hold her breath in anticipation. "Last I saw him he was preparing to leave for a safe zone, right now I do not know his whereabouts." She looked down dejectedly but a smile still appeared on her face, she knew at least that her father was alright.

"Do you have any ways to contact the station?" Takashi asked after a few moments of silence, they both looked at him and then towards the blond operative. He however shook his head.

"My equipment was damaged during the crash, my teammate's equipment was also destroyed, I have no way to contact HQ." he stated as they once again looked at him with wide eyes.

"You…" Rei pointed towards him with fright. "…were you in that helicopter that crashed this afternoon?" she questioned as the blond nodded.

"I was the hanging on to my life on the landing skid, it's a miracle I survived." The girl crashed on the ground, amazed and terrified at the same time. Amazed that the man managed to survive such a crash, terrified as she realized through what he had gone through. She had seen the helicopter crash; she had seen that person that was hanging on to his dear life on that skid. She couldn't believe that said person was now sitting in front of her.

Takashi placed his hand on her shoulder, she looked at him and nodded, sighing and calming herself.

They stood on the rooftop for hours, looking at the mass below. Through Takashi and Rei, the blond had learned that the undead were blind and they could only hear, that sound was what attracted them. For several hours they had tried to use whatever objects they found on the roof to lure the undead away, by throwing them in the distance. They avoided hitting the car, if it was armed and the alarm went off who knew how many more they would attract.

They gave up after throwing all the rocks, pebbles and whatnot from the roof. The vast majority was still present, still lingering around the station. Naruto told them to sleep, that in the morning they would be gone most likely, something would eventually draw their attention. The teens however couldn't sleep, they stood watching the area, talking with the blond, though he wasn't in a talking mood.

He stood, leaning against a wall and looking at the horizon, a worried look in his eyes. They didn't ask him what he was thinking about, he was mostly likely worried for his family as well, they all were.

**xXx**

_He cringed as the man yelled at him, throwing his papers at him, calling him worthless and a waste of budget. This was the first time that he had been yelled at like this, the first time he had actually pissed off someone so bad that they were going to kill him. He hadn't had time to react, those large hands had grabbed hold of his neck, choking the life out of him. No matter how much he flailed his arms he couldn't do anything about it. _

"_Stop." The choke on him lessened but didn't give in, someone was approaching, the aura that he knew all too well made him shiver. "What do you think you are doing?" the newcomer questioned as the scientist glared towards the boy, and replied in a low, but angry, tone. _

"_This shit wasted our budget for that experiment, that serum was the only one and it was wasted on him." He growled out as his hold on the boy's neck strengthened. "Years of research, years of documentation, all down the drain in one go!" he howled as a gunshot echoed in the hallway._

_The grip lessened as the boy's throat, he wanted to scream in fear, but instead, he was rooted in fear as he watched the scientist slowly slide down, his hands leaving his neck and falling on the ground with the whole body. Timidly he looked up, at the gun barrel, smoke coming out of it and behind it, that sinister grin that he had come to fear so much._

**xXx**

His eyes snapped open as he stood up straight, a look of panic in his eyes as he surveyed the area. Both Takashi and Rei were at the far end of the roof, surveying the ground below, he looked up at the sky, it was morning already. A sigh escaped his lips as he rubbed his eyes, the past constantly haunted him, always reminding him what he wanted to forget.

The man inspected his leg, he took off the bandages, the wound had closed. A reddish aura still lingered around his wound, he took out fresh bandages from his backpack and sealed the wounded area once more. Finally, he stood up and walked towards the two teens, limping from time to time.

The two turned towards him as they heard movement and were surprised to see the blond operative moving better than last night. "What's the situation?" he questioned as Takashi spoke up.

"The majority left, there are only a few of them left, a total of five or six, maybe three more inside the station." The blond nodded as he also looked around, he could see four of them, walking on the street in silence.

He walked over towards the left side and leaned down, he pulled himself forward and looked down, underneath the roof at the pumps. The bike was still there and there was only one zombie next to the pumps, he spotted movement inside the station, three silhouettes. Finally, the pulled himself up and looked around for another transport, he couldn't be confined to walking all the way to the rendezvous point, he would tire out.

His eyes rested on another bike, not far from where they were. He would have to jump over a few fences but he couldn't see any undead in the area, so in theory it would be a walk in the park.

"Namikaze-san." Rei called out as she walked towards him. "Me and Takashi are going to meet up with our friends, but the bike can only carry two people and we'd like you to accompany us." She said making the operative turn towards her with interest. "I mean, if you weren't going anywhere in particular, you most likely have an objective, if you are going to follow it…"

He raised his hand stopping her and pointed towards the bike he had spotted. "I'm going to grab that and follow you two until I can get a radio or something. My objectives are really far from here, I need clarifications before I proceed further."

Miyamoto nodded with a small smile and sat down next to him. "How are you going to get the bike?" she questioned him as the blond thought of a plan.

As he was about to reply he turned his head to the side and looked at the approaching teen. "I'll go down first, make my way to the bike, half-way there you two will grab your bike and meet me at the entrance there." He pointed towards the entrance where the second bike was, in front of a flat. "I can start it without keys so all I need to do is get there and be careful of my surroundings."

"But going in alone?" Takashi questioned "I do not doubt the skills of someone your caliber but these are not your everyday opponents." Naruto had to give him credit, he nodded at that but reassured them that he was prepared for anything.

Strapping the submachine gun to his shoulder, he pulled out his gun and walked towards the ladder. After making sure there were no targets in the vicinity he descended and made his way towards his objective.

The two teen's watched as the man ran towards the first wall and climbed it with ease, landing on the other side and making his way towards the next wall. Takashi was amazed that someone who had such a serious injury could move so freely now, yet Rei noticed the blond was still limping, he was putting a lot of strain on his leg to get the speed he needed to climb the walls and run.

Half-way to his destination both Rei and Takashi stood up, they made their way to the ladder and descended as well. She prepared her improvised weapon and ran towards the bike, closely followed by her companion. With a swift move she dispatched the target standing next to the bike just as Takashi climbed on, moments later she jumped on and grabbed hold of her friend as they drove off.

Naruto worked relentlessly on the bike's wires, trying to get the damn thing to work. His head snapped up as he felt something approaching; with a swift motion he pulled out his gun and aimed at the oncoming threat. He fired without hesitation, the loud noise shattering the eerie silence. The zombie fell on the ground, a bullet hole in its head.

There was no time to waste now, the shot attracted them once more, he was certain of that. He heard Takashi's bike stopping front of him just as he finished starting the engine. The blond nodded to himself as he strapped the pistol in its place and looked up.

"Lead the way, I'll follow." He called out as the boy nodded and drove off, closely followed by the blond.

**xXx**

The things he had witnessed as he followed the two teens was unimaginable, they had been fired upon by civilians. Even though they had seen him, an officer of the law, they still opened fire on them. He didn't stop to fight back, not when he was supposed to follow the two, he pressed onward.

On several occasions he had been tempted to stop as he had seen other police officers, though their radios wouldn't have been the ones he was looking for. He needed to find other operatives to get in touch with the real HQ, not the ones used by the police to direct the civilians. The bridge would also be a bad idea, or so the blond considered. He doubted that any operatives were there, he had seen the layout of the groups, the closest ones were supposed to be heading towards the Mall or towards the Hospital.

As they passed by the bridge they had stopped for a second, the teen wanted to know if the blond could get them past the bridge. However, as he looked at the setup there, he could only shake his head. It was most likely that he alone could get passed but he would not be allowed to bring them with him, it would cause uproar among the civilians waiting at the gates. He didn't have to tell them that, as soon as the civilians noticed them they started flocking the blond, asking for help, asking him to let them pass.

They left, leaving those people behind and their cries for help as well. He couldn't help them, there was nothing he could do for them.

As he looked forward he noticed the boy stopping, he also came to a halt next to him as the girl got off and ran towards a group of four, hugging the oldest amongst them.

"Friends I assume…" he said as the boy nodded. The blond stood back and watched as Takashi also walked forward and greeted them all.

"Wow!" the blond turned to the side as he heard the exclamation, he noticed the chubby member of the group staring at his submachine gun with sparkles in his eyes. "UMP-45, I can't believe our police force use this kind of guns!" he exclaimed. "It has red-dot sights, tactical frontgrip, flashlight!" he shouted just like a little girl that had gotten the present she had always wanted for her birthday.

"Umm…" the blond wasn't sure how to approach this.

"Don't worry, Hirano is harmless." He heard one of the girls say. The blond looked towards her, a girl with long, straight and shiny black hair with a triangular fringe at the front that barely touched the ridge of her nose, a pair of blue eyes looking directly into his.

"I see..." he muttered as he noticed the wooden sword she was carrying, a close range fighter he assumed. One look at the boy named Hirano and he had already realized that he was a long-range fighter considering the makeshift gun he was carrying. He had to give him credits, creating something like that out to protect himself and those around him.

"Though, what is a SAT operative doing with you two?" the same girl questioned as the boy also looked at that with interest.

"He appeared last night and saved me." Rei replied with a smile on her face as the group looked at her with wide eyes.

"He saved you?" a girl with long pink hair kept in two pony tails on either of her head asked. Her fierce orange eyes looked towards the blond, a calculating gaze. He did not falter however as he gave a small glare, making her shrink realizing who she had been looking at. "Wasn't Takashi with you?" she asked opting to glare towards the teen who shrunk back with a nervous smile.

"They were surrounded." The blond spoke up drawing their attention, Rei and Takashi's in particular. "The undead would have finished them off if I hadn't intervened; they both had their hands full." They seemed to take that for an answer as they nodded and let the subject drop, Rei smiled towards him, she wasn't ready to talk about what had happened.

Naruto stood on the bike, waiting for them to discuss what they had to. He tuned them out, he didn't need to know what they were doing next, it was none of his concern. Though he debated now on what to do next, the detective had asked for the favor to look after his daughter, he was torn between respecting the man's wishes and completing his objectives. The man was the only reason he was still alive right now, the only reason he still had a family for his teenage years and the beginning of his adulthood.

"Excuse me." He opened his eyes and looked in front of him, towards the blond woman, she was leaning forward giving him a good view of her chest. Naruto fought down a small blush that was forming on his cheeks and made eye contact with her.

"Yes?" he questioned as she smiled.

"We are going to my friends place to rest for the night, would like to join us?" she questioned as the blond nodded nonchalantly. Resting in a bed, or in a futon would be better than on the cold ground. Hell, even the floor of a warm house was better than the ground.

"Can you come with us then?" Takashi questioned as he got on the bike, the woman following him and getting on the bike behind him, grabbing the boy and hugging him tightly. Naruto held back a snicker as he saw the teen trying to fight back his own blush as the woman's breasts pressed on his back.

"I can come, what do you need me to do?" he questioned as the boy looked at him with a smile.

"We are making sure everything is clear there for everyone." He replied.

A nod was all it needed for them to leave, the woman said that the house wasn't far away and that it was spacious enough for everyone. She was right, it was only fifteen to thirty minutes of walking away from where they started, they had arrived in just under five minutes.

The first thing he noticed was the car, a humvee. He looked towards the woman with a questioning gaze. "What exactly does your friend do?" he questioned her as she began to ponder. A small smile appeared on her lips as she looked towards him.

"I have no idea." She said making the blond want to fall on the ground in shock. He only shook his head however; there would be time to investigate this later on.

"I'll take a look around." He said as he got off the bike and took out his pistol, he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a thick barrel that he attacked to the pistol. "I'll return in ten to fifteen minutes." He said as Takashi nodded.

Naruto walked away, entering the house across the street. The windows were broken and blood was splattered all over the floor. Gently, he pushed the door open with the gun barrel and took aim, there was nothing in the hallway, only a line of blood leading upstairs.

Carefully he walked inside, making sure that he made no sound at all, if they were indeed attracted to noise then he should be safe if he was as quiet as a mouse. A smirk appeared on his face at that thought.

The first place he checked was the kitchen, on the table stood a corpse, face forward and a butcher's knight in its skull. A day old he deducted by how it smelled. The radio next to the refrigerator caught his attention; he walked over to it and inspected it. Naruto removed the batteries and placed them in one of his pockets, he would need them for his flashlight, he didn't have any spare batteries, and leaving in such hurry had made him forget some things behind.

The radio was the only thing in the kitchen that the blond could loot for batteries, the clock he had checked didn't have the required size. He walked out in the hallway and made his way towards the living room, it was clean, like nothing had happened here. The first item he checked was the remote, it had what he needed, he checked another clock and to his luck it also had batteries that would fit his flashlight.

With those he had enough reserves to last him a few days should he be moving in the dark, or in dark locations. He made his way towards the hallway and stopped as he heard footsteps.

Naruto took aim and waited for the creature to come down from upstairs, he doubted that there was another living soul in this place and he was right, as soon as the footsteps appeared in his line of sight he could see the creature, the walking corpse of a fifteen year old boy, who was missing its lower jaw and had several knives in its back. He didn't stay to think where he had gotten those knives from as he took out his own knife and threw it, hitting the zombie in its head.

The body dropped on the ground with a loud _thud_.

He scoffed taking back his knife and walked out of the house. While he was scavenging through the place it seemed like the rest of the group had arrived and they were preparing to move in to clear the house of the undead.

"Leave it to me." He muttered as he walked passed them and raised his silenced pistol. With one shot he took down the first undead that had appeared in front of him. The dampened noise attracted the attention of the rest of the zombies that moved towards the newly opened gate. One by one they shambled towards him as he got a clear shot of their heads, blowing their brains out one at a time.

In mere seconds the entire yard was nothing but a puddle of brains and blood, the corpses of the dead laying on top of each other. He shook his head as he grabbed the first one and began to pull it out, throwing it in the street. Takashi and Hirano soon joined to help the blond in clearing the place, a feat that didn't take more than a few minutes.

"_If this friend of hers is who I think it is I might find a radio here."_ He thought to himself as he pulled his and Takashi's bike inside the yard, beyond the fence and locking the door behind him.

**xXx**

The house was clean and tidy, or at least the majority of the house. The kitchen was a mess; it looked like the person who lived here had left two days ago in a hurry. Plates were in the sink and on the table, the ashtray on the table was full with cigars and to Naruto's surprise a radio used by SAT was on the table as well, plugged in and ready to use.

Without a second thought the blond walked forward and sat down in the chair in front of the radio grabbing the attention of the black haired girl and the blond woman which he had accompanied.

Naruto analyzed the radio first, inspecting it. He moved his hand towards a button and pressed it, static echoed in the kitchen as he began to fine tune the radio towards the frequency they use. It took just a few seconds to set the radio on the required frequency, yet all that came from the radio was static.

Carefully, he took the speaker in his hand and moved it to his face, just as the rest of the group entered the kitchen upon hearing the static coming from the room.

"This is Zulu four-five to base, come in." he said and waited for a few minutes. There was no reply.

"This is Zulu four-five to base, please respond." He said once more, this time the reply was instant.

"_Zulu four-five? You're still alive?"_ the voice asked shocked _"We've received reports that Zulu had crashed in Grid five-six, what happened?"_ he questioned as the blond sighed.

"One of the pilots had been compromised, he turned and attacked the other pilot midair, he lost control before we could kill it." For a moment no reply came from the radio, no sound, not even static was heard.

"_Damn...status update!"_ the voice ordered as Naruto nodded and closed his eyes.

"Zulu team heading to objective M-four, zone Bravo. Casualties ninety percent, equipment loss seventy percent, distance from objective roughly one hundred kilometers. Requesting order update."

Once more the man grew quiet, for several minutes he didn't reply leaving the blond and those around him to wonder what was taking so long to reply.

"_Understood, considering the high number of casualties your mission is terminated. Mission requires three full teams, Alpha and Omega will be backed by Epsilon now. You are to proceed to Foxtrot and await further orders. Maintain radio check-up every three hours."_

"Understood base, Zulu four-five out." With that the blond placed the speaker back in its original location and closed the radio. He looked up at the group and raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you wanted?" he questioned as they all stiffened realizing they had been listening in on the conversation without permission. He however just waved his hand dismissively while standing up and leaving the kitchen.

Naruto stood in the living room watching the sun set and thinking. Whatever his objective was he hadn't been informed at the start that his team would link up with other two teams and that it cannot be completed by one team alone. Maybe there was more to it, maybe there was more about that location that he hadn't been informed from the start and he needed to learn only on location.

His musings were cut short as the blond haired woman appeared in front of him. "Namikaze-san, can we talk?" she asked as the blond nodded. She smiled and sat down in front of him. He watched as she took a deep breath and smiled. "First, I'd like to apologize if we offended you by listening in on your conversation."

Once more the blond waved his hand in a dismissive manner, it really seemed like he didn't care that they had listened in on him.

"Ah right, we never introduced ourselves." She giggled as the blond let a smile creep on his face. "I'm Shizuka Marikawa, Fujimi Academy nurse." She said with a smile.

"Saeko Busujima." Naruto turned towards her and the group that came into the living room and nodded at her.

"Kohta Hirano." The boy said with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Saya Takagi." The pink haired girl said, her arms crossed over her chest and a small smile on her lips. The name rung a bell in the blond's head as he immediately knew who she was, yet he said nothing.

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, I've already met Rei and Takashi here." He said looking towards the two who nodded.

"Namikaze-san, could we talk about something?" Saeko said as she walked forward and sat down in front of the blond. He looked at her and shrugged, he was curious about what she wanted to talk and as long as it wasn't something he wasn't allowed to say he didn't see any problem with it.

"Do you know the cause of this outbreak?" she questioned as he merely shook his head with a sigh.

"I have no clue whatsoever. I was in the station when it happened, heard a scream and then the alarms went off, I geared up and ran out, on my way out my superior called me and ordered me to move to the roof. Giving me a brief overview of my now canceled mission." He replied as the girl sighed and began to think.

"What kind of mission did you have?" Kohta asked curiously, yet the blond remained silent, not answering or looking at him. They understood at that moment that he wouldn't answer all questions, only those that weren't related to his mission and maybe more.

"Do you plan to leave tomorrow?" Saeko finally asked as the blond leaned on the couch and looked up at the ceiling.

"Most likely, I have to reach my destination as soon as possible. Which reminds me…" he said as he leaned forward and looked towards the busty woman "…would your friend mind if I borrow her radio?" he questioned as she shook her head with a smile.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind helping someone from SAT."

"_That or a fellow operative."_ The blond mused in his head, while he didn't know who her friend was it was perfectly obvious that the resident of the house was a SAT operative. "Thank you." He gave her a courteous bow.

"Um…wouldn't it be possible for you to join us?" Rei asked drawing everyone's attention. "You must know a lot about the city layout, secret passages, ways to move around undetected. We need help."

The blond sighed. "Contrary to most beliefs we don't know the in's and out's of the city, not all of them. We also move like normal people in the streets, there are no secret passages that we can use." He told her, feeling a bit sorry as he saw the deject look on her face.

"I will help you as much as I can, but not for long." He told them, making the girl smile a bit and nod. It was better than nothing, someone with the blond's experience would prove invaluable to them for a few days, they could learn a lot on how to survive this new world.

After that they couldn't think of what else to ask, they didn't talk about anything else and just opted to carry on with what they had planned. The girls went to prepare the bathroom for their use while the two teens proceeded to look for weapons of any kind that they could claim and use.

Naruto, he just stood on the couch looking outside towards a school in the distance. His heart hurt as he looked towards the location and occasionally he turned towards the television, looking at the news to forget what was there. But as he kept looking between the two, the words of an old friend rang through his mind constantly.

"_What is more important to you Uzumaki? Orders or your friends? Friends or family? Orders or family?" _

A sigh escaped his lips as he closed his eyes. The end had come to this world and he didn't know what to do. There were three paths in front of him and he didn't know which one to take, his _situation_ made it hard for him to pick a path.

* * *

><p><strong>xXx<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Notes:<strong> Alright, what you just read is a rewrite of a story that I had written about two and a half years ago after reading the manga. Never uploaded that story and its already lost forever, but this time I am uploading this for two reasons:

a) I really need to get all these ideas out of my head so I can actually finish a damn story

b) It's still a fresh crossover section with a lot of room to move about so its fun to write

There are a few points I'd like to clarify: this is not your typical Naruto, meaning that he wasn't "resurrected" in the HOTD universe, he was born here, like everyone else. He doesn't have special powers (read ninja powers) but he will have something that will set him apart from normal human beings.

Kyuubi? Present...in a way...its not the Kyuubi you will expect (know) but at the same time it will be good (no, not good Kyuubi or stuff like that, so don't ask)

During the entire chapter keep in mind that Naruto didn't take off his helmet or facemask.

Finally, there will be OC's in this story, a lot…mostly because HOTD is on hiatus for quite a while it seems so I will have to actually create my own story at one point and somehow end this story. That or if you guys want to wait a year or two until HOTD gets updated for me to continue writing just say so (heh)

Now that this is out of the way, I think I can finally write the next Demon's Curse chapter. If not…be prepared to read more of this until I finally have my head clear.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note:** small warning...you might see errors here and there. Too lazy to fix them right now.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and/or Highschool of the Dead**

**Desolation – Chapter 2**

_After being confined for so many years he had finally tasted freedom. But it wasn't what he had expected. As the elevator reached topside he and his 'men' looked at the surrounding area with wonder. The complex was in the mountains, maybe somewhere in Europe, or the US. They weren't sure, they didn't know which mountain was to their left, they didn't know in which forest they were but at the same time it didn't really matter. They were now free._

_But, they didn't know what to do. His 'men' looked at him, waiting for him to tell them what to do, the programming that the scientists drilled in their heads impended them from thinking of anything else. They were his soldiers and he was their leader, he told them what to do and where to go, they looked up to him for answers, answers that he did not have._

_He looked up at their savior, at the person that led them out of the darkness, away from the constant tests and horrors they had to endure for so many years. He looked for an answer to a question they were all asking themselves, in their minds. 'What do we do now?'_

"_Why are you looking like that?" the man asked curiously, it was obvious, just by looking at his face and his eyes that he didn't know almost anything about what they had been through in that facility. _

"_We don't know what to do…where to go…that place was everything for us." He told the man who gave them a sad look. He bent down to their level and placed his hands on the boy's shoulder, looking at him in the eyes. _

"_You're going home, to your parents. You will start new lives, normal lives." He told them as the boy looked towards his 'men'. They all looked confused at that, they had families? They could have normal lives? Those terms were alien to them, all they knew was to fight, all they had was each other. How could they lead normal lives? _

"_Miyamoto-san…" a SAT operative walked forward with his team. "We have evacuated all the children and arrested all scientists that surrendered. The charges are placed and ready to blow."_

_The man nodded as he stood up and looked towards the children. "Take them home, to their families." He said as the operatives moved forward and beckoned the children to follow. They placed them in busses and in mere seconds drove away; the boy looked back, towards the facility as he heard explosions. They were sealing it, sealing the place and all its secrets._

_His meeting with his parents had been strange. He did not cry, he stood, passively and looked at them, listened to them. His mother had cried for minutes, maybe an hour after she was reunited with him. The boy wondered how she knew that he was her son; he wondered how the man crying next to her, hugging him, knew that he was their son. But he didn't question it._

_His life had been strange, the person he was supposed to call 'mother' had been pregnant for eight months when he was returned to them. They had apparently mourned after him for years and had been unable to think of having children after he was kidnapped; only moving forward after six years. _

_He was thirteen when his sister had been born and while everyone had been happy and looked at the child as a ray of sunshine all he could see was weakness. This world was not his, this world was too different from what he came to learn, he couldn't understand anything and for hours he would just sit and watch the walls, thinking, trying to understand. _

"_Weak." He would say at home, looking at the small child, it didn't matter if his 'parents' were there, it didn't matter if they looked at him with pity, anger, or remorse. _

_They had tried to get him to open up, to understand the world through different methods; trips, meeting new people, making 'friends', going to school and even a psychiatrist – or more. None of them worked, he was as stoic as ever, a boy with no knowledge or understanding of the outside world. _

_But they never gave up, something he had admired them for, something he respected them for. _

_As years passed and his sister grew he came to understand that he had a tick in his head, an urge to morph those that were weak into strong people, programming from all those years most likely. _

_When she was seven he began to try and train her, he went easy at first and his parents believed that he was bonding for the first time with his sister. _

_The training then turned harsher and harsher as the days progressed until his father had realized what was happening and stopped him. _

"_She can't do the things you can, you are hurting her by forcing her to do this." He would say among other things. It intrigued him however that his father had never hit him, there had been moments in which he had angered the man so much that he raised his hand, making him flinch all the time, yet the punishment never came. It always bugged him as to why he refrained himself from doing that, but at the same time it also made him wonder…maybe he was doing the right thing. _

_It didn't help that after a few weeks the daughter came forward saying that she was happy with the training her brother had put for her. That she was happy to continue training under him to become strong._

_So he continued, again and again. _

_The mother had intervened, the father had intervened – despite what their daughter had said –, but the next day he would start it all over. _

_They had separated them from time to time, sending him to camps so he can bond with other children and clear his mind, but it did not stop him._

_In his mind he had the 'order', in his mind he was 'told' to do it and he could not stop it. _

_But after a year of the same routine, he began to understand. Little by little he began to understand what this world was, where his place was and what he had been doing all these years. _

"_Onii-sama…" he remembered the eight year old cry at him, she was tired, she was dirty and she couldn't go further. "…I don't want to do this anymore." She cried to him. _

_Naruto just looked at her, he stared as he thought. "Why?" he questioned. _

_She shook as tears fell from her eyes and looked up at him. "It hurts onii-sama, I can't do it anymore." She lowered her head in shame, something that had intrigued him to no end._

_He looked at her with calculating eyes, not understanding why she said that. "You told me that you wanted me to train you, that you were ok with it." _

_At first she didn't reply, she merely stood there crying silently. And then she looked up at him with teary eyes and told him the truth. "I did it because of onii-sama…he always looked down on me, he never wanted to play with me or spend time with me. I thought…I thought that if I trained with him I would get onii-sama's respect." She cried out, crashing on the ground and covering her face with her hands. _

_Naruto paused, he had seen this before, he had encountered something like this before when he was still a captive in those labs. He trembled for the first time in years, was it fright? Remorse? Regret? He couldn't answer that, he didn't know why he trembled in such a way. _

_Slowly he walked forward, towards the little girl and bent down on his knees. She didn't react to his presence and he didn't know what to do. He watched her from up close and listened to her cry and call his name, asking why he ignored her, why he looked down on her. _

_It then came to him, it struck him like a lighting bolt. _

_The voice in the back of his head died down, it became silent. _

_He could hear the world around him now, he believed that he could understand now. _

_Gently he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, resting her head on his chest as he told her not to cry. Something he had done in the past. _

"_You don't have to do this anymore. I won't look down on you anymore, you don't have to earn my recognition." He told her as he closed his eyes and sighed. "I was blind, you've always had my recognition, I was just…blind…" he whispered to himself. _

_From that moment he began to open up, he began to understand the world and started smiling. His sister had been the one to erase his programming, something that he hadn't realized until it happened. _

_If he stood to think about it, maybe from the start she had done it, maybe she had been the trigger for him, to end what was done to his mind. _

_It didn't matter though, he lead a relatively normal life from then on. She was the most precious thing to him, he protected her with everything. Maybe it was because she reminded him of his first friend, someone he had tried so hard to save but in the end he couldn't. Maybe it was in his blood. _

_Whatever it was, to him it didn't matter after several years. She was his sister; she was the most important thing to him in this world._

* * *

><p><strong>xXx<strong>

* * *

><p>He awoke to the sound of gunshots. His eyes snapped open as he pulled his pistol out, standing up and analyzing his surroundings. Things slowly became clearer and he became more aware of his location, his eyes widened as he realized the shots were coming from downstairs.<p>

The heavy footsteps echoed through the hallways as he ran down the stairs to the living room.

"Hirano!" Naruto shouted drawing his attention, in mere seconds the operative was standing in front of the boy holding the rifle and glaring at him. "Are you insane? You're attracting them!" he shouted as the boy didn't even flinch and just looked at the man in front of him dead in his eyes.

"We had to do this, we couldn't just leave her there." He retorted as he turned his head towards the side.

He followed the boy's gaze and narrowed his eyes as he saw Takashi at about eight houses away from where they were. For a moment he froze as he saw he was with a small child, if he was right she was no older than seven.

"Understood." He mumbled as he freed the boy's gun and crossed his hands over his chest thinking on how to proceed in this situation.

As he thought he hadn't realized that both Shizuka and Saya were in the living room, one of them getting dressed and the other telling the gun loving boy that they were going to leave the place.

"Namikaze-san!" that attracted his attention, he turned towards the self-proclaimed genius and noticed the bags that were piling up in the living room. "We're going to abandon this place."

"Couldn't agree more." He told her as he pulled out his pistol and took out the magazine. He looked through it, numbering the remaining bullets he had left and loaded his gun again. "Upstairs in the room to the far right I left my sub-machine gun and the backpack. Please retrieve them for me."

The girl nodded as the operative grabbed hold of the balcony and jumped down. "Wait, Namikaze-san!" she shouted as the blond looked up.

"I'll bring them here, you guys prepare everything." He calmly told her as he climbed up the wall and jumped down on the other side in the neighbor's yard.

For a moment he wondered if he was too rash, if he should have stayed a bit more to think or even go and grab his gun. The plan he made was simple in theory, simpler due to the fact that they were facing shambling zombies, as long as they were out of their lunge range and didn't make any sound there wouldn't be any problem.

But these were strange times.

He was tempted to use his flashlight and try to blind them, but that would have been a futile attempt, they were already blind.

He was three thirds of the way to his destination when he felt something out of place. The blond didn't stop however, he pressed forward.

When he reached the wall however, he stopped. Turning around he realized that the gate to the previous yard had been opened and several zombies had walked inside and they were moving towards him. He hadn't bothered using stealth; he was running against a clock here.

With a swift motion Naruto pulled up his silenced pistol and fire in the first zombie. Its body dropped on the ground with a hole in its skull. Another bullet left the pistol's barrel and found its way in the second zombie's skull, finally the third met the same fate as the first two.

With the corner of his eyes he noticed that a few of the zombies had heard the damped fire and were trying to find their way inside the yard. He didn't wait for them, he was over the wall before they could find their way inside the yard, on the way back he'd think of a way to neutralize them, to make a way for the teen and the little girl to move safely.

Half way to the final wall he noticed Takashi was already moving towards him, he was carrying the girl on his back and walking on the wall. "Takashi" the blond whispered as the teen raised his head up. The operative motioned for the boy to jump down and move towards him, he did as he was told.

"Namikaze-san?" he questioned, clearly he wasn't expecting someone to come towards them and to reach them in such a short time.

The operative looked at the girl, she looked back at him. "Are you alright?" he questioned her as the girl gave a weak nod, clearly she wasn't expecting to meet someone like the blond, wearing police armor from head to toes.

"Are you a cop?" she questioned as the man gave a small nod and smiled under his mask.

"Everything will be fine…" he whispered before turning towards the teen, his features turning serious. "…we need to move fast, I'll help you jump over the walls and cover your back, you just make a run for it."

The teen however frowned slightly as he looked at the walls, they were at least two heads taller than him. How the blond managed to scale them in such short notice and reach him so fast was beyond him.

That didn't go unnoticed by the man, he remembered that the boy before him wasn't someone that had undergone his kind of training.

With a frown he stood up and looked around for another alternative.

Seconds later he looked back at the boy. "Lets try it anyway." He whispered as the teen stood up and followed the blond.

They moved towards the first wall. "Put her down." He ordered as he turned with his back to the wall and made a ladder with his hands for the teen. "You can keep the pup there." He finished as he noticed the dog in the teen's jacket. Naruto didn't question it, there must have been a reason why he was carrying a small animal with him.

Reluctantly, Takashi bent down and placed the small girl on the ground; she looked at him and then at the blond man. "Don't worry, no harm will come to you both as long as I'm here." The man said looking straight at her. She nodded, a small smile appearing on her face.

With a nod the blond turned his attention back at the teen; he nodded back at the man and moved forward, placing his leg in the blond's palm and climbing up on the wall again. As soon as the blond couldn't feel the boy's feet on his shoulders he stood up and took the girl in his arms.

He raised her up and helped her climb to the other side, as soon as that was done he climbed up as well and jumped on the other side.

"This will take some time." The blond mused as he moved towards the opposite end of the yard.

After taking the first few yards they stopped. The blond felt something was out of place and took a peak in the next yard, the gate had been destroyed by the overwhelming mass from the undead and they were now all over the place.

This put a dent in his plans. "We might still make it by walking on the wall." The teen said, his eyes widened at that, of course that was a solution, not the best one but it was still a solution.

With a nod Naruto helped both Takashi and the little girl, Alice, up on the wall. Once again Takashi took care of her by carrying the small child on his back. Behind them was Naruto, while the teen tried to keep his balance as they walked Naruto tried to move as slow as possible so as not to push the boy in front of him.

Balance was not a problem for the man.

Time on the other hand was a problem.

At the pace they were going the teen would tire out even if he started carrying the girl, if he tried to carry the teen and the girl at the same time it would tire him out and the irregular shift in weight would make him loose balance.

It didn't look good. By the time they reached the end of the yard Takashi would be too tired to climb over the remaining walls.

Luck however was on their side this time.

Their heads snapped up as they heard the unmistakable sound of a car speeding down the road towards them.

"Namikaze-san!" they heard Hirano shout as he threw towards the blond an item with great precision from the speeding car.

He caught it with ease and smirked as he removed the safety from the sub-machine gun and turned to his right unleashing the entire clip in the unsuspecting dead. As soon as all thirty rounds had been empties from the gun he took his pistol in his left hand and turned towards the left firing in the zombies that were trying to grab him and Takashi by the legs.

"Takashi, jump!" the blond ordered as the boy jumped down in the yard, closely followed by the blond. "I'll clear the gate, as soon as I give you the signal run to the humvee." He ordered while reloading his rifle.

Once more the night was filled by the sound of gunshots as the blond operative unleashed another hail of bullets in the undead at the gate. While he was firing upon the undead he had noticed that the zombies had become confused, at least those that were in the center of the mass. They didn't know towards which sound source to move, he made a mental note of this, most likely it would help him in the future.

"Now!" he ordered after reloading once more and firing precise shots, clearing a path for the teen.

Once more the gun _clicked_, the magazine was empty. He bit his lower lip, he was down to two magazines, one of which he had already placed in the gun. It had been worth it however, the teen had reached the humvee and had already boarded.

"Busujima-san!" he shouted moving his heads towards the side "Move out, I'll jump on top as you move!" he called out.

Naruto didn't wait for her to reply as he climbed the wall and started running, moments later the humvee pulled back and turned around as it sped towards the blond's location.

He glanced towards it and jumped to the side landing on top of the humvee, his feet mere inches away from Hirano's face whose head was sticking out of the armored car's roof. "Go in." he told the boy who gave a slight nod and vanished inside the car.

The operative moved forward and wormed his way inside the machine through the hatch. As soon as he was inside he sighed and moved forward, his head sticking in between the two front seats.

"Please drop me off at the corner." Shizuka looked at him strangely.

"Drop you off? We can't leave you behind." She retorted as the blond shook his head.

"I have business to attend to." He told her as the woman looked back at the road with a frown.

"Even so, we can't leave you on the road in this darkness." Saya countered from the front passenger's seat in the right. "The least we could do is drive you to your destination…to that Foxtrot." She said looking towards him.

Naruto shook his head however as he pulled back and dropped on the backseat between Takashi and Saeko. "Not going there." He told them "I'm taking a detour, going to … check a nearby school." He said with a small hesitation.

The car suddenly came to a halt as the driver turned to face him with wide eyes. "You can't go in a school! It's a dead end! You have any idea how hard it was to escape from one?" she questioned.

He couldn't argue with that, places like a school, hospital, military base, or any other place that had a large concentration of people before the outbreak happed would be a death zone. Only a madman would ever consider entering those unless the prize inside of them was worth risking your life.

And in his case, the _prize_ was more than enough. "I know." He told them with a low voice. "But I need to know if … someone there made it out alive or if …" he stopped as he looked at the ground, not wanting to continue.

They stood in silence for several seconds before Shizuka looked up front once more. "Yoniwa?" she questioned looking through the mirror, the blond looked up and nodded at her as the car started moving once more.

"Don't go in, stop a few blocks away, as soon as I'm off you can leave." He said as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"We won't leave; if we want to survive we need to stick together." Saeko told the blond as the rest nodded.

Naruto laughed lightly as he shook his head, that surprised him. Looking at their eyes he knew that there was no way to convince them otherwise, somehow, this made him happy.

"Understood…then let me explain you the plan."

* * *

><p><strong>xXx<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto peered around the corner, in the courtyard of the school and frowned. There weren't many undead, but they were enough to pose a problem and delay them.<p>

He pulled back and looked to his left, Saeko and Takashi nodded at him as they prepared their weapons of choice.

The operative made a simple sign as he moved inside the school yard followed by the two teens.

"_We'll leave Hirano behind to guard the car, even though his gun makes a lot of noise we need someone who can use them to take down any bandits that try to steal from us. Miyamoto will use her spear to take down any zombies that might have heard us." The blond said as he checked his guns. _

"_What about me officer-san?" the small girl questioned making the blond smile and bend down at her level. _

_He placed his hand on her head and patted her slightly. "You make sure they pay attention to their surroundings and that Miss Marikawa is ready to leave if necessary." _

_The small girl nodded as she ran over to the elder woman. "Busujima will clear the way for me and Komuro, we will provide long range support if necessary." _

_He then turned towards the pink haired girl and threw a small walkie-talkie to her. "Takagi will guide keep us informed." He said pointing to his ear, she understood and nodded as she entered the vehicle. _

"_Any questions?" he finally asked as everyone shook their heads. "Alright, let's move." _

"_Wait." Saya called out as her head popped out of the humvee's window. "Catch" she called as she threw an object towards the blond "It was in the house, you might know better on what to use it." _

_He wasn't really paying attention as he studied the round item, numerous escapes plans forming in his head if things got out of hand. With a smirk he nodded and pocketed the item, leaving the group with the two teenagers. _

Moving through the courtyard was easy, they walked at a slow pace and kept their distance away from the shambling dead. Takashi tightened his hold on his gun as he looked at the dead around them, he tried to avoid looking at them. He couldn't blame the kid, he too didn't want to look at the scene.

The majority of undead were children between ten and thirteen. No matter how much he didn't want look at their deformed faces he had to make sure that the one they were looking for wasn't among the dead.

Even though it would take them a lot of time, even though they'd waste an entire day looking through the school the group had decided to help the blond. They already considered him as part of their group, he was thankful for that, he wasn't sure if he would be able to do this alone without loosing his mind. No matter how much training he had received.

They scoured the courtyard three times before deciding they could enter the building. It took them around two hours before they were finished with the school's exterior, luckily there had been no incidents.

As soon as they entered the building they noticed the damage that had been done. Several bodies were littered on the floor, stepped on by those that tried to flee the scene, a few of them half eaten.

Books, backpacks, shoes and many other items had been littered on the floor. It looked like a hurricane had passed through this place.

The majority of the lockers had been opened, maybe they tried to grab their stuff while running or maybe some had been using them as weapons, that thought came to him as soon as he noticed a bloodied locker that had a dead student's head splattered on it.

"Where to?" he heard Saeko whisper.

He didn't answer at first; he raised his hand and gave them a silent order to hold their ground. Naruto had given them the basic sign instructions, to make movement in such a place easier.

The operative walked forward, past the entrance and into the hallway. He looked up at the signs and read them, finally, he checked the area. There were no zombies in the vicinity, he couldn't hear any noises as well. The place was dead quiet.

"Third floor, fifth classroom on the right." He whispered loud enough for the two to hear. They nodded and walked forward next to the blond, going up the stairs behind him, careful so as not to step on the bodies.

"What if it's empty?" Takashi asked as he carefully stepped over a body that had been ripped in two, its organs laying on the ground, already rotting away.

"Then we scout all the rooms from the upper floor to the bottom floor, if we still find nothing you guys head back and I'll scout out the basement and join you once I'm done." He told them calmly. The two said nothing; even though the blond said he would scout out the basement by his own they decided not to press on and convince him to not do it alone.

It was interesting, on the first floor the place seemed rather clean. There were no bodies in sight and no undead, only the occasional blood trail.

On the second floor however everything changed, it was like they had entered a nightmare house. Blood had been splattered everywhere, bodies were littered all over the floor but the undead were missing from the scene.

They stopped on this floor, or at least the blond stopped first and the other two followed after him.

There was something strange about the place, too many bodies, too much gore. A light above them pulsated slowly, making the scene around them even more grotesque. He bent down and looked left and right.

Finally, the operative stood up and took a step forward. He felt something under his foot. Slowly he moved his foot back and looked down as he began to rummage through the blood and littered organs through whatever was underneath them. His eyes widened as soon as he raised his foot, on it stood a baseball bat, covered in cracks and blood.

Biting on his lower lip, the man lowered his foot slowly and dropped the weapon on the ground. Once more he looked around, he noticed a body near one of the classroom doors and walked over to it.

Bending down he grabbed the body's head and turned it to the side. It had a knife in its skull, either someone had killed this person or he killed himself judging by the bite marks on his neck.

But that wasn't what interested him, the man wasn't wearing teacher's clothes or the janitor's clothes. He wore a black leather jacket and tight leather pants, his face obscured by a black mask. Did bandits already start raiding? It had been only two days and a half since the outbreak and why would they raid a school of all places?

He was shaken out of his thoughts as he heard noises from inside the classroom. Slowly he peered inside, there he saw two adults feasting on a lifeless body. If they were alive or not it didn't matter to the blond, cannibals or zombies, he wasn't going to jump in and kill them, he didn't need to alert the entire place of their presence.

Slowly he stood up and walked back to the stairs where Takashi and Saeko stood. He noticed that they weren't fairing very well, Takashi looked pale and dizzy, almost ready to puke and while Saeko was just pale he could see that she wasn't fairing any better. Most likely standing in this place, with all this gore and the powerful scent of death was taking a tow on them.

It was taking a tow on him as well, he felt the contents of his stomach coming up on numerous occasions.

With a shake of his head he motioned them to walk up the stairs, towards the next floor. They gladly obliged.

On the third floor, while things weren't different, they were a bit a better. The occasional body was laying on the floor, trails of blood on the walls, windows or floor and a few zombies here and there. Nothing they couldn't handle.

"Come on, the sooner we finish the better." Naruto said as he turned to the right and walked forward. He didn't want to get caught during night time here, walking through these tight corridors that were swarming with the undead was not part of his plan.

They didn't need to be told twice as they moved forward with the blond, holding their weapons at the ready.

Each class they passed by held the same story. They were either empty or had one or two bodies with one – or no – undead roaming aimlessly. In all cases it was a child zombie.

Seeing so many of them, again and again made the blond more skeptical of survival chances for anyone here. These were children, they had no idea how to fight, no strength to fight and didn't know where they should run or hide in such situations.

Too young to survive in such a world.

They came to a halt as they reached the fifth classroom, he took a deep breath and entered the room, pistol aimed in front of him. The class was empty, chairs had been thrown over, desks turned upside down, a body laying in the middle of the room, but no undead in sight.

He walked over to the body, the chest had been ripped open and more than half of the organs had been eaten. It wasn't the body of the one he was looking for, he relaxed at that.

As he stood up his eyes caught sight of a backpack in the far back of the room, most likely it had been thrown there in the chaos. He walked over to it and picked it up, his heart skipping a beat as he stared at it.

"Is everything alright?" he heard Saeko ask.

He gave a small nod. "She wasn't in here when it happened." He told the girl as he raised the backpack and took out a small necklace. "She would never leave it behind." _"And the school never allowed their students to wear any accessories apart from earrings."_ He thought to himself as he let the backpack drop on the ground and he pocketed the necklace.

"Where to?" Takashi asked next.

"We scout this floor, then the one below, then the next and so on." He replied as he walked towards the exit and out into the hallway followed by the two teens.

For an hour they scouted the third floor, going from classroom to classroom, doing their best not to attract the undead. From time to time they were forced to attack the undead as they had been spotted, he noticed Takashi wavering in the fight with these undead, that was not good.

They proceeded to clear the second floor, no matter how much they all disliked it. The stench of death made them all nausea, searching through the floor had been a very hard task.

Wading through the dead bodies was not an easy task. At times they had been surprised to find a zombie – half of its body at least – grabbing of their legs and trying to bite them as they walked through the numerous bodies.

As they moved away from the stairs however the scenery changed little by little. The number of bodies and gore slowly reduced, the number of undead wandering the hallway had reduced as well.

In one of the bathrooms they had found a student that had hung herself to escape from the madness, it was the first time the two teens had seen something like that – in real life and not a horror movie.

However, they did not find what they were searching for on the second floor. The blond had checked every dead person and every zombie to make sure the girl wasn't one of them.

By the time they were finished with the first floor the sun had started setting, they were running out of time and they had no clue as to where the person was. There was only one floor left, the bottom floor; silently the teens prayed that they'd find the girl there.

"In an hour it will be completely dark outside." Naruto mused as he looked out the window as they walked the hallway of the bottom floor.

They wanted to tell the blond that they should leave, but they knew he would order them to go back without him and he would stay behind to continue his search. They didn't like this; they couldn't abandon him after he had helped them like that before.

But after scouting the bottom floor Naruto had told them to leave. They had no choice, it was part of the plan. The operative was now alone in the school.

He decided to scout the bottom floor one last time before moving to the basement.

As he passed by the headmaster's office and the teacher's lounge the blond stopped. He looked at the door leading to the lounge, inside was the headmaster's office as well if he remembered right.

He turned around and walked to the door, or at least what was left of it. The door was laying on the ground, it looked like something had crushed into it and completely destroyed it.

Inside however everything was clean; there were no bodies, no traces of blood and no zombies. He looked at the door to the headmaster's office and carefully walked towards it. Naruto grabbed the knob and turned it, the door was locked.

He stood looking at the door for several seconds before he took a step back and slammed his foot in the door, breaking it from the hinges. "Three to five minutes." He mumbled, it was the time until the undead would require to swarm him here.

As he entered the office he immediately noticed the mess in the room. Someone had been through here, trying to either find something or…judging by the pile of documents, papers and wooden planks on the floor next to a large cupboard, it was most likely that someone was looking for a place to hide.

Raising his gun up and pointing it towards the cupboard he called out. "Come out, I know you're in there." There was no movement but he did hear someone give a small gasp from inside. "I'm with the police, there is nothing to worry about." He said once more lowering his gun slightly.

The blond waited for a minute before the doors to the cupboard began to slowly open. A person peered outside from the doors, a girl, no older than eleven with shoulder length red hair and blue eyes.

Naruto smiled as he lowered his gun completely. "Come Rin-chan, its safe now." He said with a soft voice as the girl ran towards him, grabbing him in a hug.

"Onii-sama!" she cried out in his chest. The blond patted her on the head and whispered that it will be alright, that he was here to save her. "I was scared, I couldn't do anything…it happened so fast." She cried out as the blond closed his eyes and hugged her tight.

"Don't think about it…I'm here, things will be ok now." He told her. The girl said nothing however and just continued to cry in his chest. "How did you get in here however? The door was locked."

She shook her head and sniffed a few times before replying. "I was sent by my homeroom teacher to retrieve the test papers. When it happened I was leaving the teacher's lounge and saw one of the teachers eating a student…" she stopped talking as she began shaking from the memory. "…he heard me scream and came for me. I ran and hid in the headmaster's office, locked the door and then hid myself in the cupboard."

The blond nodded at that, the zombie might have been the one to destroy the door to the lounge. "I wanted to leave yesterday…but there were so many…I didn't know what to do." She cried "I wanted to go and help Yuna-chan and Makoto-kun…but I couldn't…I never should have stopped training with you." She cried out as the blond said nothing and just held her close, trying to comfort her.

"It's not your fault, stop thinking like that." He told her as he looked back, he could hear footsteps in the hallway.

Slowly the blond pulled back from her hug and stood up, she looked at him wiping her eyes. "Here." He said as he took out the necklace from his pocket and tied it on her neck.

A small smile appeared on her face as she moved to hug him only to notice him walking away. She watched as the blond walked over to the window and opened it, he turned towards her and beckoned her to move towards him.

"Wait for me." He said as he picked her up and helped her out the window. Since they were at the bottom floor it was easy for them to exit the office.

"_Namikaze-san, if you can hear me we're going to head to the school in a few minutes, we're going to pick you up from the courtyard."_ He heard Saya say in his headset.

Looking back in the office he saw several zombies shambling inside, a gasp attracted his attention towards his sister as she looked towards the oncoming horde with fearful eyes. "Yuna-chan…no…" she silently cried out while looking towards a zombie with its torso half eaten.

The blond operative grabbed his sister and ran away from the window, towards the courtyard, with her in his arms. She held on to his chest, burying her head in it.

As he turned the corner and entered the courtyard he froze, in front of him was a mass of undead, all shambling around. Some had heard his movement and were shambling towards them.

He scowled, if he dropped his sister and had her run next to him while he fired his gun they would swarm them in mere seconds and she'd be the first to fall. If he tried to run in between them they would be able to grab him without any effort.

His musings were cut short as a resonating _bang_ echoed in around him, a zombie in front of him dropped on the ground, its head completely shattered.

Another shot was heard, from a different direction, another zombie dropped on the ground unmoving.

"_Snipers."_ He thought as he began scanning the area, in the distance he thought he saw a flash from the gun's scope, but he couldn't be sure.

As the third zombie dropped on the ground after the third shot he ran forward not taking any chances. He noticed the snipers were following his movements, clearing a path for him. Each time he got closer to an undead one of the snipers would fire and kill the creature before it could lunge at him.

The operative jumped over a body as another shot was heard, a body dropped behind him as a zombie had tried to lunge at him. Whoever these guys were, they were good.

His attention moved towards the school gates as the humvee slammed in them, moving into the courtyard and mowing down the undead in its path. "Namikaze-san!" Hirano shouted as he opened fire on the undead, clearing a path for the blond as well.

Naruto ran forward and stopped as the humvee did a ninety turn in front of him. The door opened as Saeko popped out. "Get in!" she shouted extending her hand.

The blond pushed the girl in his arms forward as the teenager grabbed her and pulled her inside. He moved forward and jumped in the car, landing on top of the teenage girl with his back. Using his feet he kicked an undead away as he closed the door.

"Drive!" he shouted as the nurse nodded and hit the acceleration, moving away from the scene.

Not far away, on top of a building a black haired man watched the humvee drive away through his binoculars. He slowly lowered them and smirked.

"_That went better than expected." _He said towards the sniper in Russian.

The man nodded as he looked up from his rifle. _"Did he change?"_ he questioned as the man pondered for a second.

"_Not that much, I also don't know how I would have acted in such a situation, we weren't prepared for this."_ He stated with a shrug as he picked up a backpack and raised his radio.

"_~All teams, meet at the designated location in one hour.~"_ he ordered, acknowledgments soon followed as he closed the radio. _"This will be interesting."_ He stated with a smirk as the sniper nodded.

* * *

><p><strong>xXx<strong>

* * *

><p>The ticking of a clock was the only sound made in the small room. From time to time a person shifted on the bed in their sleep, or one of the boy's would fall asleep and fall on the ground only to wake up and resume his position.<p>

The group had to stop from crossing the river like they had planned, they hid their humvee in a garage, cleared the house and surrounding area as best as they could and barricaded themselves for the night in the master bedroom for some sleep. Or at least a few of them would sleep.

Naruto and Saeko stood at the door, each one of them at a different end, guarding it. Kohta and Takashi stood at the balcony entrance, hidden behind the curtains and Rei stood at the end of the bed with her makeshift weapon ready.

Shizuka, Saya, Alice and Rin – the dog laying next to Alice – slept on the bed peacefully. While the teens had taken care of clearing the house and the surrounding area, his sister had introduced herself to the nurse and the smaller girl.

Little by little she had gotten over her shock of what happened, she explained to the group how she had survived in the school for an entire day by hiding in the headmaster's office. There had been a little bit of food there as well, in a small fridge.

Iruka, the headmaster of her school, spent a lot of time there and always stored a sandwich or two along side the wine's – the wine was used when the blond visited, though his sister didn't know that and he never told anyone.

As night descended upon them Naruto managed to convince the group that they needed to rest before continuing, traversing the river during night was a bad idea, traversing the river in general was a bad idea but he had to admit it was the only plan they had so far. His destination was also beyond the bridge and he didn't plan on walking there.

The operative looked to his side towards the girl, it looked like she was sleeping but he wasn't fooled. She was meditating, keeping her eyes closed to rest them, resting her mind at the same time.

A creak reached his ears as he pulled out his pistol and loaded it.

Saeko lifted her head up slightly though she did not open her eyes; she heard the small noise as well.

They stood in silence and made no move, a small sound reached their ears. Someone or something was tiptoeing their way towards the room.

His grip on the gun tightened as the sound stopped right behind the door. The handle moved slowly as Saeko's eyes snapped open, the blond silently stood up and looked at her, nodding. A human was behind the door, there was no way the undead knew how to open doors.

As the door opened (inward) Naruto grabbed it and slammed it on the wall as he moved forward pressing the gun's barrel at the man's head, Seako moved forward as well, her wooden sword pressed on the man's neck.

The noise alerted everyone as they all stood up, Kohta raising his gun up towards the door while the others just jumping up in surprise and looking towards the door. They had no words to describe what they saw.

In the doorway stood a soldier, his eyes covered by infra-red goggles, his face by a black mask. He was wearing urban-camo clothes with many pockets in front. At his head was the blond's pistol, in the soldier's right hand was also a pistol which was aimed at the blond's lower jaw, in his left hand was a knife that was holding back the wooden sword pressed on his neck.

"_Some way to treat an old friend…"_the man spoke in Russian, no one seemed to understand what he said however.

The blond operative however understood as his mind began racing for an answer, he then noticed the insignia on the soldier's arm and his eyes narrowed. "What is spetznaz doing in Japan?" he questioned making everyone's eyes widen at that.

"_Ah, that's not fun, letting everyone know who I am."_ He replied in the same language as the blond growled in annoyance.

"_You are testing my patience, answer my question."_ This time the blond replied in Russian as well making everyone looked at him in wonder.

"_You really aren't in position to make demands my friend."_ Was the reply and to prove it a red dot suddenly appeared on Seako's head making both Kohta and Naruto's eyes widen in horror.

"_Sniper…"_ the blond spat out towards the soldier who only grinned under his mask.

"_Listen, lower your weapons and we will lower ours, we came to talk."_ He stated as the blond just glared towards him making him sigh in annoyance. _"If we hadn't come when we did those thugs would have given you a hard time attracting the undead. Most of you would have died trying to reach the humvee which I might add was swarmed by those thugs."_

The blond narrowed his eyes at that, he couldn't trust that. Seeing that the blond wasn't going to budge he nodded once and in mere seconds the dot vanished from the teenage girl's head. _"Now can we talk?"_ he questioned with a deadpanned look in his eyes as the blond lowered his gun.

"Busujima…let him go." He said as the girl glared towards the blond but reluctantly lowering the wooden sword.

"_Good…"_ the man said as he rubbed his neck and placed his weapons away. _"…lets talk."_ he said turning around and walking away in the hallway.

Naruto followed out and looked back at those inside. "Stay here, if it's a trap I can handle it." He ordered closing the door behind him.

He looked down the hallway and saw the spetznaz walking down the stairs, the operative followed him down towards the living room where two more soldiers stood behind the couch. The man, their leader from what it seemed, sat on the couch and motioned for the blond to sit in front of him.

Naruto did as he was told, making sure to keep a close eye on them.

"Don't be so tense boss, if we really were out for your head you would have died by now." The leader spoke in perfect Japanese making the blond look at him strangely.

The blond said nothing however as he only stared at the three men before him. He couldn't recall any spetznaz coming into Japan, his father would have talked about it with him like he usually does. It was strange that these guys had managed to sneak under the radar in the country, maybe they came during the outbreak? No, that couldn't be right.

"You still haven't answered my question." The blond said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Ah yes…" the man said as he took off his goggles and lowered his mask. "…we came here to see how you are doing boss." He finished with a smirk making the blond narrow his eyes.

"Boss?" he questioned as the man nodded and pulled up the sleeve from his right arm showing a red tattoo of a fox with nine tails.

Naruto's eyes widened at that, it was the same tattoo he had on his right arm.

The man lowered his sleeve and looked at the blond and his expression, he was sure the man knew who they were.

And he was right, Naruto now knew who the leader of these soldiers was, but he couldn't believe that after all these years someone from the past would appear before him. But, he didn't know who this man was.

The soldier noticed the troubled look and spoke up. "Maybe reintroductions are in order." He stood up as he saluted the blond before him. "Under the ninth's control, squad three's leader, Uchiha Sasuke, at your service commander."

It all came crashing down on him, the man before him was his soldier, his subordinate, his most loyal subordinate. Back from when they were test subjects, back from when they were forced to become weapons.

He grabbed his head in pain as he trembled remembering it all. "Painful, I know…" the man, his soldier, said.

"Why?" the blond rasped out. Why had they come here? Why was this man here? He had tried to forget about the past, he had tried to stop being the weapon they had programmed.

There was no answer, for minutes they stood in silence. He looked up at the man and saw that he was also in confusion, they all were. They had no answer as to why they came here, as to why they stood before the blond.

"We…" the leader spoke, uncertainty in his voice. "…it called us…" he whispered not sure on how to explain it.

Naruto's eyes widened once more, the _programming_ in their minds was still there, it told them to find him, it told them to find their leader so that they would serve him once more. Or was it really because of that?

The operative looked up at them as one of the soldiers spoke up in Russian. _"We heard a call, a pull from Japan…we don't know how we got here, the time between going to bed back in our camp in Russia and waking up here is all black."_ He explained.

He didn't know what to make of that, were they brought here? Did they come by themselves yet they didn't know that? Looking at them he saw that not even they knew what the answer might be.

With a sigh the blond leaned on the couch. "I assume you guys were the snipers that backed me up a few hours ago."

Sasuke grinned as he nodded. "Quite easy once we found locations from where to support."

The blond nodded, his mind drifting away and trying to remember things from the past, things from when he was a captive. But no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't remember why these guys would come here, looking for him.

"Sir…you might want to know something." He perked up at that as he looked towards the black haired man before him. "While searching for you we saw _the seconds_ troops, at least a platoon, towards the West." Naruto closed his eyes thinking about it, _the second_ rang a bell. His eyes then snapped open as he remembered, he was referring to one like him, it meant that the second was also here in Japan.

"That doesn't make any sense, why would you people come here all of a sudden?" he questioned with narrowed eyes as the man just lowered his head in defeat.

"If we knew that we would have told you sir." Was the reply he got, it unnerved him, something was happening and none of them knew what it was.

"What happens now?" he questioned after a moment of silence.

"Depends on what you want sir, we are here to follow your orders." He didn't like that, he wasn't going to take away their freedom like the scientists did, they had been set free.

"I'm not here to order anymore. We are free Sasuke, I will not send people to their deaths anymore." He spat out as he remembered the countless children that had died under his or the others command during those tests.

The man before him only sighed as he shook his head. "I knew you'd say that, but we have nothing else to do…for the time being however we will stay in the shadows and scout the place. We will reveal ourselves later on, please think it over." He said as he made a motion towards his men, they nodded and left the living room.

Sasuke stood up and looked down towards the blond once more. "Something big is going to happen, I feel it…when it does we need to be prepared…" he told the blond as he left the house.

Naruto knew that, he also felt that something bad was going to happen, something that they had been ordered to do and no matter how much they'd fight it the event would still happen.

But…what was the event? What will happen?

* * *

><p><strong>xXx<strong>

* * *

><p>"This is Alpha, we are in position." The SAT team leader spoke as he motioned for his team to place the charges on the door.<p>

"_This is Omega, in position." _They heard the other team leader speak up.

"_Epsilon here, ready to go."_ The third one answered as the leader nodded.

"Charges placed?" he questioned as two _'yes'_ were heard. The man nodded as he ordered them to blow the doors open and storm in.

The explosion shook the building as they moved inside through the smoke, scanning their surroundings and moving deeper into the building. They came towards a blocked door, sealed with numerous police tapes and chains.

"Cut it." He ordered as an operative moved forward and cut the chains and ripped the tapes. They placed another charge on the door and blew them open. The team charged into, descending the stairs into the dark abyss, their flashlights lighting their paths.

"_Epsilon here, the elevator still works."_ They heard the team leader speak up _"We should be at the designated floor in ten seconds."_ He stated as Alpha's leader ordered his men to move faster.

"_This is Omega, we are in position."_ The leader spoke up after several minutes.

"_Epsilon in position."_ Was heard in their headsets.

"All teams, move in and secure your objectives." Alpha's leader ordered as they stormed inside the laboratories.

They moved with great haste through the offices, kicking the doors to the laboratories open. Numerous test tubes were present in the lab, some were broke, some still had remains of humans inside of them, floating in water and decaying ever so slowly.

They kept on moving however, they hadn't come to this place for sight seeing. "Movement!" a trooper exclaimed as he stopped and looked towards his right. The leader moved next to him with the rest of the team and waited, a mouse appeared in the light. It looked around before running away.

"Shit man…" one of the troopers said as he turned around, the leader shook his head and ordered them to move forward.

They pressed on, going deeper into the labs. There was no reason to be so tense, the undead were on the surface, far away from this place, there was no one here. The place had been locked up for the past four years and most likely abandoned years before that.

"…_"_ Static suddenly reached their ears as they came to a halt .The leader stood up and raised his hand to his ear.

"Omega, Epsilon. Did you say something?" he questioned

"…" more static was the answer they got. That wasn't normal, even though they were deep down underground the signal between them should still work, they should still be able to hear each other as they were only a few levels apart.

Gunshots suddenly echoed, it was barely noticeable. If they hadn't stopped for that moment to check in with the other two teams they wouldn't have heard it most likely.

But gunshots? Why would the teams, or team, open fire in this place? There was nothing here, there shouldn't be anything here to begin with.

Movement suddenly attracted their attention. They looked to the side, their flashlight lighting up a decaying corpse as it shambled towards them.

"Impossible." One of the troopers muttered in fear as they heard a _clang_, something dropping on the floor. Another trooper turned towards the sounds origin, a zombie was shambling towards them.

More footsteps echoed around them as the leader looked around frantically, lighting the place up with his flashlight. They were surrounded.

"Move, move!" he ordered as he raised his gun and opened fire on those in front of them "We need to reach our destination, grab what we need and get the hell out of here!" he shouted as they all opened fire and began running away.

The team of five made their way through the labs, firing at any zombie that appeared in front of them. A cry for help stopped them in their tracks as they turned around and saw one of their members getting eaten by the zombies, they had grabbed him from the sides and threw him to the ground.

"Ignore!" the leader ordered as he pressed forward, leaving the man behind.

It didn't take them long to reach another door that was locked. They slammed in the door trying to break it open, yet nothing happened. "Blow it open!" he ordered "Cover him!" the man said once more as one moved to blow the door open while the remaining three turned around and formed a semi-circle. They opened fire on the oncoming undead taking down as many as they could.

"Its ready!" the man shouted as they got into position.

The door was blown open and the team rushed inside only to come face to face with a wall of undead. They screamed in fear as they unloaded their guns into the masses with no long lasting result. They had been boxed in and killed, their cries of pain and despair echoing in the laboratories.

In a room at the very top of the building stood a man looking at a large number of monitors, a cigar in his hand as he hummed a small tune.

"Disappointing." He muttered as he threw the cigar in the ashtray. "Was expecting more of a show." He brought his hands up towards his face as he studied the screens with mild anger. "And _the boy_ wasn't with them…such disappointment."

With a sigh he closed the monitors looking over the three teams which were getting eaten by the undead. "No matter, the plan will still proceed…it should be entertaining." He said to himself smirking foully.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes:<strong> Ok, here is a round-up: _Demon's Curse_ chapter 12 is at 70% completion, _Ignis Deus _chapter 13 is in the works.

I will reveal Naruto's background with each chapter and it will culminate to what the name of the story implies and what the summary means ever so slowly. Mostly doing this plot of mine because if I am to follow "by the book" HoTD I'd finish this story in just 5 to 6 chapters. Would be a shame, plus I don't want to follow the manga 100%

I've seen others that don't follow the manga 100%, they add their own twists and make it interesting. I'd like to try that as well. Just more differently.


End file.
